KARACHI: EPI drive unlikely to meet targets: Infectious diseases moot
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 30: Even though the ongoing national EPI initiative has brought about some improvements in health indicators, it is unlikely to meet its targets soon. Moreover, some developing countries that regularly commit less money than Pakistan to healthcare programmes, have fared better in terms of betterment in health indicators.
So said a speaker on the final day of the three-day First International Congress on Infectious Diseases, organized at the Liaquat National Hospital from March 28. Another speaker said typhoid was primarily a paediatric disease.
In her presentation on Sunday afternoon, Dr Anita Zaidi of the Aga Khan University said under the routine immunization programme only 68 per cent of the children in Punjab, 47 per cent in Sindh, 52 per cent in NWFP, and 37 per cent in Balochistan had been immunized.
She pointed out that under the EPI certain diseases lagged behind others in terms of number and percentage of children immunized. This was due to several factors, including varying political commitment and fluctuating funding to combat the various diseases.
Dr Zaidi, who has been trained in some of the world’s best medical institutions, gave the example of Bangladesh which didn’t commit as much funds to health programmes as did Pakistan but which, because of better management practices, had overtaken Pakistan in terms of improvements in the health indicators.
“Even India is performing better than us,” she said. “But not all is doom and gloom. We have made steady progress in the campaign against the polio virus.”
Dr Zaidi stated that recently certain cases had surfaced in which some children who had already been vaccinated against measles had developed the same. “This casts shadows over the whole EPI initiative.”
She was of the view that measles could be used as a marker for the success or otherwise of the Expanded Programme on Immunization.
Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta on the occasion said that according to some reliable studies a big proportion of typhoid cases involved children. He said about seven years ago, 60 to 70 per cent of the cases were that of multidrug resistant typhoid.
“But fortunately, recently the percentage of cases involving multidrug resistance fell in the range of 20 to 25 per cent.” He cited several studies in his thoroughly researched presentation.
Dr Bhutta was of the view that typhoid cases should ideally be diagnosed early on, the confirmation tests should be carried out as promptly as possible, adequate treatment should be started as soon as possible and there should be proper followups.
